<snip>
% I think 60K is a reasonable figure, mainly because (as the originator
% of this thread pointed out - at least hinted at) Joe Consumer will be
% presented with all the flash the various s/w companies can muster.
% With GPL on the shelf next to F1RS (and assuming he's an F1 fan), he
% may opt to plonk his hard-earned $50-bucks on something identifiable -
% that being on a more contemporary scale/era.
% Also, most of the buying-power in *** is by those of 16~25-years,
% and product-ID is another deciding factor in GPL's success. Shoot'em-
% ups, NASCAR, Rally, Jet-sims and NFS-stuff will all be competing for
^^^^^^^ That is exactly where the sales will come, for starters.
% JC's all_mighty_buck.
You are forgetting that there are many NASCAR Racing 2 fans out there.
Which they may have been tempted to purchase based on their "loyalty" to
the real sport, they KNOW a good product when they see it. Those that
got hooked on the "detail" and "physics" of N2 will remember "who"
released it. So when they see it on the shelves, some of them will say,
"hmmmmmmmm, Sierra or Papyrus, think I'll give it a try, they did pretty
good with NASCAR". Granted this won't be 100% of the N2 owners, but
even a small percentage is more than a drop in the bucket. (Throw in a
few ICRII fans also).
I remember my first Papyrus exposure, Indianapolis 500 the Simulation
released by Electronic Arts (if memory serves me well). For years I kept
looking for another Papyrus Design Group simulation. Was disappointed
by news that they weren't going to produce another simulation, then was
thrilled to find out there would be more! I wasn't looking for
more EA sims, but ones done by Papyrus Design Group.
Also don't count out the Sierra-Heads! These are folks who sorta follow
Sierra as a kinda cult and will order anything from them if Ken says
it's hot!
% Sierra/Papyrus missed several coups', most notably:
% - leaving-out the banking at Monza (it had been in the in-house
% version at one time!)
How could this be a coup, when you are arguing the point that a
"historical racing" simulation is not going to appeal to the bubble-gum
chewing software buyers? Who cares about the "massive banking" of
Monza, but us hard-core junkies? Very few of the F1 fans of today
probably even know of it, let alone saw races on it.
% - the lack of pitting (OK, so it was rare for F1 in those days, but
% Dan Gurney didn't have a save-race feature either!)
While not a missed coup, this one is a flaw. There was plenty of pitting
in those days. While it's true it wasn't for tires and fuel, I am sure
championships where won or lost by some quick fix in the pits and then a
mad and daring F1 driver cutting his way back through the field. And
some great races to boot!
% - horrible sound (they've never been able to get this right - so why
% not farm it out?...naw, too easy...)
Haven't heard the "official" sound, but I am also hard pressed to find a
racing sim that has sound that I am happy with. Also got to keep in
mind the CPU overhead for really sophisticated sound FX.
% - inaccuracies in the models (eagle, brabham, etc.)
Guess I missed this discussion. . .
% - Global_Hype_Scaling - does it work?! Who wants to run a race you
% can't win?! Sheesh!
?????????
I will admit that Sierra has always seemed to be somewhat out of the
"marketing" world. But, then again they must have been doing something
right all along. Again, I think some of their success came from
building a cult following and thus a brand loyalty (the same goes for
NASCAR the sport).
% The worst of the above has to be Sierra's lack of marketing_prowess,
% although some may point out that Cendant's woes may have been a
% contibuting factor - which I doubt. Questionable advertising (using
% the stupid "...Welcome to 1967" ads), missed opportunities at most of
% the historical events, and not keeping the online community a*** of
% developments (it was there, just too little too late, IMHO) are what
% killed GPL long before we got wind of it.
What potential buyers are we talking about here? Almost sounds like
sour grapes. ;-)
% Amazing the amount of cash that has flowed (trickled)-through the R&D
% channels since GPL's inception, and the lack_luster way in which Sierra
% shows it off. Shame on them.
That's the way Sierra has always done business, why should we expect
them to change now?
% Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love GPL, and it'll no-doubt remain
% on my HD for many years. Excellent online/LAN multiplay, fabulous
% and humbling physics, drop-dead graphics, and ooooh - those tracks!!
% Ahem...But let's be realistic...If this were, say "World Champion
% Bungie Jumping of 1981" or something dissimilar from racing, and it
% claimed to have the absolute_best_dog_gone_physics over any other
% bungie-jumping title, would we (as Joe Consumer) buy it, what with
% "Solar Ninja Bungie Jumper" and "Duke Bungie-II" next to it on the
% shelf? Me thinks not. =P
Who's to say how many of the "gamers" out there that have had a taste of
car or racing arcades/sims won't take a look at GPL. Don't forget they
seem to have more expendable cash to "throw away" than most of us. For
many of them it's just an impulse buy anyway. If they have powerful
enough machines (and many of them do), hell they'll buy and play with it
for a weekend and be happy (though maybe frustrated). They may even get
a little more "play time" out of it than they did some of the other
shoddy games they bought in the past. To paraphrase Bob Dylan,
"Started out on mother's milk, and soon moved on to the harder stuff."
There are alot of things involved in marketing, other than the
"typical" things we usually think of. Some of these "other" things
Sierra has done well. Alot better than many software houses I can
think of....
[just had to climb up on the soapbox to prove that I am back! <G>]
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
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